The Winning Question
by Morrigue
Summary: With the release of Nightfall Harper Collins launch a competition for 50 lucky fans to meet the author and the characters- Sarah is one of those and soon finds herself in the middle of a strange situation.
1. Chapter 1

It started with the release of Nightfall.

I was 22 and a mature student at University and things weren't going well for me, I was in a very fragile state of mind due to the pressure I was under from my family as well as University.

My only escape from it all was my books and I was disappointed greatly with Nightfall, so I went on the internet to discuss with fellow fans. What I found on the discussion boards was truly amazing and I thought at first that it had to be either a joke or they were discussing a fan's story that they'd written.

On my favourite website I found people claiming that the characters from the Vampire Diaries were real and the events actually happened. I still don't know for sure how the rumour started (you know what it's like on the web, each source is another website and the other website has yet another website listed as the source.) but I think most of the people are now quietly putting the source down to one person.

Of course, people were finding this hard to swallow. The webmistress was apparently on e-mail terms with the author and been e-mailing her for information about the rumour, when I joined in there had been reports of girls suddenly begging their parents to take them on holiday to Florence so they could soak up the "culture." There had been plenty of unconfirmed sightings of some of the characters in some very odd places- I mean, what the hell would Stefan Salvatore be doing shopping in Men's Gap?

After a about a week of intrigue, speculation and sheer stupidity, the announcement came that it was true. Damon, Stefan, Elena Matt, Meredith and Bonnie were actually real people. The webmistress said that they had been trying to keep it quiet but somehow it got it out, giving her publishers a massive headache.

It seemed that Harper Collins, Lisa Jane and the Vampire Diaries gang had a bit of a crisis meeting and decided upon launching a competition in the UK to appease the British fan base who had complained that there was a launch party for Nightfall in the U.S.A but no plans for one over here and so we would yet again miss out.

There would be 50 winners who would get the chance to come to London and stay for 3 nights in a top London hotel. Over the two days they were staying they would get to meet and greet not only Lisa Jane Smith but also Damon, Stefan, Bonnie, Matt, Elena and Meredith.

All we had to do was e-mail in a question to ask - the top 50 selected would win and we would get to ask them it in person.

There would be a meet and greet session on day one for the fans to get to know each other, including a late buffet lunch. After that was a Q&A with Lisa Jane and Harper Collins bods, then dinner. After Dinner there would be an informal dance.

Day 2 consisted of Breakfast, then we would meet the people behind the characters.

After lunch we would have the opportunity to ask them our questions which would bring us to around lunch time, then if we so wanted to there was a sightseeing tour of London or free time until dinner.

After that Stefan and Bonnie would be talking about herbs, spells and psychic powers or you could go see Damon explain about his past and demonstrate his powers.

On day 3 Elena and Stefan would do a short Q&A and then Meredith and Matt would be talking about how it had affected their lives.

After lunch there would be a photo/ book signing session until dinner.

Dinner would be a buffet and there would be a formal farewell ball.

So basically, it was a normal convention. On paper anyway, in real life the itinerary would go out the window and the organisers would be tearing their hair out.

The question I submitted was one everyone was thinking but no one had actually dared to ask- had any of them read the books? If they had, then did it change their perception of each other?

I sent it off and waited and waited. Then one day I got the letter that I was waiting for, my question was one of the top 50, I was so excited I started bouncing on my bed and when my housemate complained I did it even more just annoy her.

Over the next two months I got a temporary job in a blockbuster working nights, I saved up money and bought a nice dress for the farewell ball and the accessories to go with it, my troubles temporarily forgotten with the excitement of meeting the people I felt I knew so well through the books.

So the time came at last and I was in London at the hotel, rooming with a girl called Fliss. I had checked in about 12 and Fliss had already bagged her bed, we got talking and it turned out that Stefan was her favourite, "he doesn't deserve Elena, she just keeps breaking his heart. No wonder the poor boy's always worrying. Who's your favourite then?" I laughed and grinned.

"Oh _everyone_ loves Damon." she rolled her eyes but we both laughed.

There was a knock on the door and a girl with blonde hair and warm brown eyes wandered in and introduced herself as Sam, then followed Holly with her New Rocks and purple hair, soon we were all sitting on the beds with the door open laughing and joking with each other.

We had gotten to that point where Holly had gotten her Ipod and we were all dancing to Nicklebacks' Rockstar still with the door open, Holly and I were head banging while the other two were dancing. Girls from the other rooms started coming in and pretty soon we had about 10 people in the room and then Bonnie came to see what we were doing. Pretty soon we had everyone dancing to a bit of Aerosmiths' Nine Lives, it seemed only Holly and then somehow we ended up trying to teach everyone including Bonnie how to headbang.

That was when Stefan came to find out where his friend had disappeared to and just stood there watching quietly for a few minutes until Holly went to switch tracks and suddenly everyone crowded round the ipod asking for a song.

"I hate to bust up the party but the meet and greet starts in 5 minutes folks," he smiled as we all jumped and turned almost at the same time.

"Oh jeez, sorry Stefan. I didn't realise that was the time!" Bonnie said, then she turned to Fliss who's long strawberry blonde hair was all over the place after our head banging session.

"I'll see you guys later then at dinner!" but her words were lost as she was ushered to safety by Stefan just in time as the 10 of us ran giggling and laughing along the corridor.

The meet and greet was okay, some girls were really shy and it was like getting blood out of a stone. Others were more chatty and those of us like that bonded straight away, especially when they heard about our impromptu party and how Stefan had turned up and that we tried to teach Bonnie how to head bang.

"Ohmigod! What was he like?" was the only question on everyone's lips as those of us involved were trapped like cattle around the buffet table.

"He seemed really nice, he thought it was funny anyway" grinned Sam.

"His eyes were a really unusual green. They really do like the colour of Oak leaves." I chimed in, making quite a few girls go visibly weak.

The Q&Awas informative as Lisa Jane Smith told how she had broken down in a small town that was the inspiration for Fells' Church and her car needed some major repairs to it so she had to stay at the boarding house. That was when she met Stefan and heard about the adventures that Stefan and Elena had from the woman who owned the boarding house and had managed to convince them to let her publish it.

Harper Collins was there to promote the new big hardback Vampire Diaries books and were selling them at a special price in case we wanted anyone to sign them. Some of the girls did, but Holly and I decided that we were happy with our 3 battered paperbacks.

The Q&A ended and we went upstairs to freshen up before dinner, Holly, Sam and I were laughing at some of the younger girls who were peaking round every corner and found Matt talking to Stefan. The look on Matt's face was something that I'll never forget, horror, shock and panic, even Stefan looked a little nervous as they started going up to them. Sam got her camera out and took a picture of the moment, the three of us crying with laughter and earning a suspicious look from Stefan. Sam showed us the picture and as we were laughing over it there was a musical laughter behind us and the three of us jumped out of our skins. We turned round to come face to face with Damon and I really wish I hadn't, he is stunning in real life. Stefan's gorgeous but if Damon were really famous then he'd be the World's most gorgeous man every year forever.

"What a picture! And captured on a digital camera as well!" he laughed again and we nearly collapsed. "My how lucky you two are, all these pretty girls throwing themselves at you!" he winked at us with that wolf-like grin and I think we smiled back very weakly.

He held out his hand to Holly and introduced himself, Holly gave her name and then Sam's and then mine. To each one of us he bent and kissed our cheek, his face was cool and quite hard and you could smell the leather in his jacket and his cologne.

Stefan and Matt had come over by now as the hoard had spotted Damon and was gathering around us, "I think we'll have to keep a close eye on these three Damon, they're trouble." grinned Stefan, the others looked at us with wide eyed gazes.

The winners were all ages, sizes and colours, some of the older ones who were quite shy had now joined the back of the group and were staring at us.

"Is that so?" Damon murmured, then he turned to me and asked loudly "what does that say on your jumper ?" Realisation hit me that I was wearing my Riding club hooded jumper with my nickname on it, so I had to 'fess up.

"Trouble, it's my nickname." I grinned.

"I believe you're right brother, she has trouble written all over her!" said Damon and with that everyone laughed. Damon's laughter faded very suddenly but he still had an amused look on his face, "I'm keeping you from your dinner, I must sincerely apologise. I shall see you in the ballroom later when no doubt you will look even more like the three graces than you do now."

As he took each of our hands in turn and placed a gentle kiss on the backs of them I blushed and sneaking a glance at my two new friends I could see them doing the same, to make matters worse he made a sweeping bow and walked past us leaving us rooted to the spot and our hearts trying to escape from our chests.

We didn't look at each other until we were in the lift and the doors closed, only then did we look each other and let out little screams of delight.

Over dinner we sat at the same table and described what had happened to Fliss who nearly spat her drink out in shock when she heard that Damon had gone overboard on the charm. What none of them seemed to feel was the gaze from the table that contained Meredith, Bonnie, Matt and Elena, as it seemed that Matt was telling them about what had happened as well. It's hard to carry on a conversation when you can feel people's eyes boring into your back.

After dinner we went back to our rooms and got ready for the party, me in my long vintage midnight blue dress and Fliss in her LBD. Holly went a bit Goth with a long slinky black dress and purple New Rocks, Sam settled for a midnight blue silk cocktail dress.

Hair and make up done we went down to the ballroom where all the girls were dressed to kill and the men were in shirts and blazers without any ties looking gorgeous as ever. Damon came over to us straight away and kissed our hands again, telling us how beautiful we looked, queue us tongue tied an giggling standing there like lemons, then he went away to get us all a glass of bucks fizz and Meredith came over in a deep red cocktail dress, her long dark hair lying down her back and making her look very beautiful. "I see Damon's on a charm offensive tonight. Be careful, he's been warned against biting people here but even so…"

"Meredith. I think you should give them and Damon a break, he promised he wouldn't do anything he shouldn't." Said Elena who came over, frowning at her friend. Meredith frowned a little but nodded. "I'm sorry, I just find it hard to trust him sometimes," I smiled at her.

"It's alright, I understand where you're coming from. We'll be very careful won't we?" Sam, Holly and Fliss nodded in agreement and suddenly Damon was back with the drinks, proposing a toast to new friends. Elena and Meredith were being called by Stefan who had been deep in conversation with a group of people and suddenly the four of us were alone with Damon. He asked polite questions about where we came from and what we did for a living, he raised both eyebrows when I said that I studying Palaeobiology and Evolution. "I didn't think a pretty girl such as yourself would be studying prehistoric life. What's your aim?" he asked me, I laughed.

"My dream would be to work in Montana and find a complete adult T. rex. I've been obsessed since I was 3." Damon laughed his musical laugh long and hard.

"A pretty girl who likes dead things with sharp teeth? This party has suddenly got very interesting." he grinned. I can't remember when the others went, but I found that it was just Damon and me standing at the edge of the dance floor as the DJ played another song.

I was standing close to him so I could hear what he was saying and as he leaned down to me I leaned in closer thinking that he was about to say something when he kissed me full on the lips. I was shocked, this wasn't what I was expecting at all, or what I wanted. He pulled me closer and held me tighter, misinterpreting my shock. His body was smooth and hard, his lips cool. The kiss was amazing and I felt my body aching to melt into his arms and respond to it, but then I felt his tongue slipping into my mouth and anger and revulsion shot through me. I hated French Kissing and I hated the feeling of being helpless in front of a man, he wasn't letting me go so I bit his tongue just hard enough for him to get the message.

He drew back, he wasn't happy. "That was uncalled for," my anger started to rise.

"That wasn't what I wanted, we were talking one minute and then you kissed me and wouldn't let me go!" I complained.

"You're after my brother? Or is Matt?" he asked and when I glared at him he said "why else would you be here? All these girls have come to see us, they all have their stupid fantasies of becoming vampires or of one of us running off into the sunset with one of them. Why should you be any different?" Then he frowned at me and I felt a weird sensation in my head.

"Stop it!" I tried to pull away but he had me by the waist, my panic rose and I could see Stefan watching intently. "Let me go!" my voice rose, trying to attract his attention.

"I know what you want better then you do sweetheart" his voice was dangerously low. "You were very stupid to take all those pills and not do the job properly, but don't worry about that now. My way is a lot better." He had been in my head, he had seen something that I didn't want him to see.

"You fucking bastard!" I hissed, my anger suddenly became fury. "How dare you! You have no right!" He staggered backwards like I hit him, but it didn't register. You see if someone pushes the right button with me my anger suddenly flares up and it's so intense that it takes a lot of effort to control it.

"My my, the cat has claws." he murmured, "I like girls with fire, but you had better calm down as in a minute my brother's going to walk over and we don't want to make a big scene do we? Otherwise you'll be the laughing stock of the ballroom- the girl who didn't want me to kiss her."

"Let me go." Damon just laughed.

"Now or later? Up to you." Something triggered in my memory, psycho bitch Lisa took over.

"So tell me, has Stefan read the books?" Damon looked confused, I couldn't keep the smirk from my face. "What's that got to do with anything?"

"Well it's just that Elena never mentions to Stefan the night you came to her house for dinner." He frowned, still confused.

"What would he think if he knew that you forced his beloved to give you blood by making her choose between her or her five year old sister?" He clamped his hand over my mouth and hissed. He was really mad now, I was practically dragged out of the ballroom into the anteroom.

"You stupid little bitch! What makes you think I wouldn't influence you so that you won't say it."

"49 other girls who've read the same book. I'll be asking my question tomorrow and I'm sure that will jog a few memories." It was my turn to smile cruelly. I had him over a barrel.

"Damon what's going on? Lisa, are you alright?" I smiled at Damon and turned it on Stefan. Damon let me go and skulked off. "I'm fine Stefan. Thank you." He frowned at me, "what was that about? Your anger's nearly as strong as Elena's, that's some temper you've got on you. Look at you, you're shaking!"

I think was a bit hysterical at that point, Stefan looked horrified. "I'll be okay. Damon kissed me and I got mad and lost my temper with him, that's all."

"You lost your temper because my brother kissed you?! Most girls in this room would give their right arm!"

"I'm not like other girls. I didn't come here for that." I felt very vulnerable all of a sudden, a little scared of emotions so close to the surface. I rubbed my arm at the elbow, I could still feel the spot where they put the needle in for the drip.

"Why don't we go get a breathe of fresh air with her?" asked Elena and Meredith, I didn't realise they were standing there.

"Good idea. I think I'd better check on Damon, you two were white hot you were so mad at each other." Stefan shook his head and went back into the ballroom, I was frogmarched up to my room.


	2. Chapter 2

"Spill. It wasn't anything, Bonnie and Stefan thought you two were going to set off the sprinkler system." Elena was not a happy bunny.

"He tried to kiss me and I didn't want him to" I shrugged.

"What did you say to him? He got very angry very quickly, you touched a nerve and he can make your life pretty damn miserable if you do that

"Look, we just want to know what you said to him so we're prepared. It's about something that Stefan doesn't know about, that much is obvious."

"You've been on a drip recently. I used to help Mary at the clinic on weekends sometimes and a lot of people do that who has been on a drip." Bonnie took my hand.

"Two months ago I tried to commit suicide by taking every pill I could find in the house and a big tumbler of wine. I spent a week in hospital on Saline to flush out the stuff on my blood, and then I went to the local nuthouse to get assessed before I could go home and then they said they wanted to keep me overnight. The next morning the bloke said he wanted me in there a week, I flipped out, discharged myself and agreed to go for counselling which lasted one session of me telling him what he wanted to hear." I could feel the tears threatening.

"What happened tonight? What did he do?" Elena sounded horrified but sympathetic.

"He kissed me and I didn't want to be kissed, then he started saying that I was stupid to have OD'd and he could do the job properly. I lost my rag and he said he was going to get me, and then I remembered the time when he was invited round to your house for dinner and how he threatened Margaret. I said that if he didn't leave me alone I'd tell Stefan, but I wouldn't really. I just said because I was angry and it was the only thing I could think of." I fully expected her to be furious with me but instead she smiled at me, then the three of them laughed.

"Oh Sarah, I'm so sorry we weren't laughing at you, honest" Elena wiped the tears away with her hand. "I think Damon has met his match at last, no wonder he was so furious! Stefan has read all of the books and we have no secrets from each other at all, so that was a bit of a masterstroke that you pulled off there." she grinned approvingly at me.

I held my head in my hands and moaned, "What the hell have I got myself into?" Meredith chuckled, "welcome to our world," which made us all laugh.

"As you now belong with us we are going to walk into that ballroom with our heads held high- you understand?" How the hell could I refuse a request from Elena Gilbert like that?

The four of us headed back down to the ballroom where as we walked in I held my chin up, took a deep breath and head my head high, followed by Meredith and Elena. Damon was dancing with a group of girls when we walked in and stared as Stefan came to meet us and asked if I was okay, "yes thank you, I'm fine." I smiled at him shyly; he was really sweet and really did have the most beautiful eyes.

"That's good, as long as he didn't hurt you and you're sure you're okay."

"Nah, I'm alright." I grinned, "But thanks anyway." Stefan shook his head but he was smiling anyway, I could almost hear the thoughts running through his mind- you know- the whole; out of the 50 girls in this room, my brother _had_ to pick the one who didn't want him to seduce her and then she turns out to have a temper like Elena. Then just as it looks as though everything's going to get out of hand and there will be literal blood on the dance floor, my brother storms off looking murderous and there's a small, quite shy bookish girl in glasses standing there with a triumphant smirk on her pretty face. I don't get it.

The rest of the evening was uneventful, Damon and I stayed well clear of each other.

By the time 11pm came round and the DJ played the last song, I was getting bored. Matt and Bonnie seemed to be entertaining the crowd, Stefan had gone ages ago to get something to eat, and Elena had stayed behind a little bit with Meredith until in the middle of a song I saw her walk out of the ballroom.

Damon and Meredith had danced together for a while, then I got bored and decided to get some fresh air. The night was cool but not too cold as I walked down the road from the hotel and across Kensington Road to Kensington Palace Gardens. I took my sandals off, the grass was cool under foot and I started walking on the grass next to a path not really knowing where I was going but enjoying being alone.

Eventually I could see a bronze statue in the dark and someone standing beside it, I hesitated for a minute- there was no way I could run in this dress.

_I see I'm not the only one out for some fresh air_, I smiled and continued walking until I got to the statue. "You were still dancing with Meredith when I left." he shrugged rubbing part of the statue.

"I've never been here before; I'll have to come here in daylight one day. It looks pretty." Damon smiled at me.

"Spring or autumn are the best times with the colours. I heard your thoughts; you really have no idea how dangerous it is for you to be out here on your own this late at night do you?"

"If at first you don't succeed…" I laughed, Damon glared at me and suddenly he had hold of my wrists again. "You stupid little fool!"

"Ow! Damon! I was joking! Let me go!" He let me go and I rubbed my wrists as they stung like he'd given me a Chinese burn. "Look, I just wanted some privacy okay? and some fresh air. Anyway, you've changed your tune haven't you? You were ready to kill me earlier."

"It's getting cold out here, put your shoes on, we're going back."

"When I get to the road I will, they make my feet hurt, I'm not that cold actually." I started to walk but he grabbed me again, I opened my mouth but all that came out was a little girly scream as I was swept off my feet- Literally.

I clung on round his neck for dear life- I hate people picking me up, but he told me in no uncertain terms to shut up he wasn't going to drop me.

As he carried me to the edge of the park it was in an awkward silence, I racked my brain to say something. "Had anyone volunteer to be your next meal yet? Or do you think they're saving it for tomorrow?" At least that got a grin.

"Not yet, but they want to. A couple of them want to ask it as their question." I knew exactly who he was talking about- a couple of girls about my age who had worn short, revealing dresses to the party.

We were at the hotel now and people stared as he carried me into the lift, but he still didn't put me down, he wasn't even looking at me. "You can put me down now we're in the hotel."

He gave me a long intense look which I did my best to hold, whilst remembering to breathe. He smiled and tucked a stray piece of hair behind my ear; his touch was cool and gentle but sent a delicious shiver down my spine.

"Good night Sarah," he said, and then he was gone.

The door of my room opened, "where have you been?" Scolded Fliss.

"I went for a walk in the park." I shrugged.

"I know. You disappeared from the ballroom and no one had seen you so when Stefan came back form hunting he said that he'd go look for you. I was worried as Damon disappeared as well but then Stefan said that you were alright you just went for a quick walk in the park and would be back soon. That was an hour ago!"

Oh. Right.

"Sorry. Well I'm back now, you can to bed. Night Fliss." She gave up and went to the bathroom to get undressed while I put my nightdress on in the bedroom.

The next day at breakfast I was in the queue for a fry up when Elena came and stood next to me. "How did you get on last night?" I was a bit annoyed about this.

"Fine." She grinned at me and we moved down the queue.

For the meet and great we were split into three groups- Stefan and Damon, Bonnie and Matt, then Meredith and Elena.

Sam and I were in one group; Fliss and Holly in another, we waited eagerly to see where we would go to first. The excitement was building up in the ballroom as we sat there waiting; "the rest of us don't have a chance" I moaned to Sam. "Fliss loves Stefan and Holly loves Damon. We probably won't even get to go to them." Sam laughed, "I know, I think we should split them up. That way I can have Damon and Fliss can have Stefan."

"In your dreams girl," I poked my tongue out at Sam who hit me, so I hit her back. We were in the middle of this play fight when they all walked in. We didn't notice them until we heard an "Aherm."

Naturally we jumped two feet in the air and turned around to see an amused Stefan waiting for us to finish with an equally amused Damon standing next to him. "I told you she was trouble Damon," he smirked.

"I think we ought to separate them. I'll take the blonde- for a change." Stefan's eyebrows shot up into his hair at this last comment but he didn't say anything. I turned to Sam who was looking as equally panicky as I was, we were sitting on the end of the row and there was no escape.

Everyone else was staring at us; Elena had a bemused look on her face. The thought occurred that for once Stefan and Damon were co-operating under their own steam without any disasters going on or anyone's lives on the line. The looks on their faces reminded me that they were _both _extremely dangerous, something that Sam loved.

"We won't go without a fight, will we Sarah?" Sam was enjoying this, she grabbed my hand. "We'll superglue ourselves if necessary," I agreed.

The brothers exchanged a glance- and attacked. I let out a little scream and so did Sam before we were each slung over a shoulder and removed from the ballroom, laughing our heads off. Stefan set me down outside, a huge smile on his face, "I think you're right brother, picking on humans _is _fun." Damon laughed; he still had Sam over his shoulder. "At last, I've been waiting a long time to hear those words from your mouth."

"Just goes to show you, don't believe everything you read, eh Sam?" Sam had been lowered to the floor by now. "I know, they came across as gentlemen in the books, but true gentlemen wouldn't pick on helpless maidens."

That was it; Stefan grabbed Sam and picked her up. "Catch," he said to Damon and lightly tossed her over to his brother who caught her effortlessly. Then he picked me up and was about to do the same thing to me when I spotted Elena at the door. "Elena! Help us, they're picking on us." Poor girl was shocked, she didn't know what to make of it. Matt was right behind her and laughed, "I'd leave them if I were you, they're co-operating without being forced." He grinned at Stefan who looked at Damon and then they both laughed. Stefan put me on the floor; Sam was already down, Damon holding onto her as she looked a bit wobbly.

Elena winked at me. "I'm shocked. I can't believe that you would pick on those two innocent girls. Stefan, I expected better of _you._" Bless him; Stefan actually looked quite worried, until Elena couldn't suppress her mirth any longer. Sam and I started laughing as well.

"They're ganging up on us Stefan." Damon grinned.

"When everyone's finished, there's a room full of girls wondering what's happened." Meredith had joined in now and Bonnie was with her as well, she smiled at us and we all walked back into the ballroom.

Stefan said that the questions might not get done today. The man from Harper Collins was panicking quietly in the background; you could see it on his face. He wasn't happy when Stefan and Damon decided pick on us, we didn't mind but you could see the words health and safety virtually printed on his forehead. Fliss and Holly were in group one and we were in group three.

Group one was with Elena and Meredith, group three was with Stefan and Damon. So we stayed and everyone else left to their respective places.

"We're not going to bite, come and sit closer," said Stefan to us. Sam and I lead the way and took seats at the front. "This is your opportunity to get to know us. I know that some of you are going to be shy, but we're not going to hurt you. If you have a question that you want to ask us; or anything that you want to know then ask us."

"Or I'll start answering the questions that you're all thinking." Damon grinned, that put the fear of god into the younger ones.

I took a deep breath and stuck up my hand. Stefan smiled at me and nodded. "How do you feel about the fact that a lot of your personal details have been published in the books?" Stefan leant back in his chair.

"That's a good question. I'd prefer if some of it weren't published. There are things in the book that I'm not proud of, but I thought that so long as people thought it was all fictional then it would be okay. Now that the cat's out of the bag it's a question of damage limitation." His face was very serious; I hoped I hadn't upset him.

"I disagree with my brother, since he's always trying to preach to me about not influencing pretty girls so I can drink they're sweet blood. Now, I have an army of very pretty girls that are practically begging me to bite them." Damon grinned and everyone laughed, Stefan rolled his eyes in mock exasperation.

"I've got an idea brother, why don't we find out about each of them?"

"That's a good idea; let's drag the chairs round in a circle. Sarah, you sit next to me and kick things off." Sam smirked at me but I ignored her.

"Okay, I'm Sarah Francis; I'm 22 and come from Essex. I'm studying Palaeobiology and Evolution at the University of Portsmouth, which basically means that I study Dinosaurs and their environment. My dream would be to dig up and prepare a in Montana as they're my favourite dinosaur."

"Who's your favourite person from the books?" Damon asked a mischievous twinkle in his eye. "That's not fair." I protested, going bright red. Stefan laughed.

"Well if we're going to be asked personal and embarrassing questions then so should you lot." Stefan winked at the rest of the group. "I'll try not to get upset if you all prefer my brother over me." We laughed nervously and I swear that I went redder.

"Well?" asked Damon, I cringed.

"You are." Damon and Stefan laughed.

"Why am I your favourite?" Now he was being a bastard.

"I don't know; lots of reasons. Everyone thinks you're the bad guy because you embrace your nature and you tried to steal Elena from Stefan. But you always seem to be there for them when they need you, yet whenever something goes wrong it's always you that gets the blame." I was boiling hot now, Damon was enjoying this immensely.

Stefan tried to encourage questions gently, one girl asked what Stefan's favourite colour was and why. His answer was blue; the colour of Elena's eyes and another who looked like a rabbit caught in the headlights asked Damon if he and Bonnie would ever get together. For some reason this surprised Stefan who looked at Damon, but Damon smiled and said to the girl that he couldn't predict the future but if they did she'd be among the first to know.

"You don't know about the fan fiction, do you?" asked Damon grinning at his brother, I noticed I wasn't the only one who looked slightly uncomfortable. "What's fan fiction?" asked Stefan.

"It's where people write stories based on the books, some of them write about what might have happened if things turned out differently and some of them write about us meeting them. From what I've read there seems to be a lot of stories written about Bonnie and I, it seems that people believe we're destined for each other." Stefan's eyebrows went through the roof at Damon's grin. "Some of them even suggest that Elena's rightful place is at my side to be my Queen of Darkness." Stefan glared at his brother, but Damon just continued; "most of the people in this circle I should imagine have written fan fiction at one stage or another." Stefan glanced round at the blushing faces, obviously not happy.

"There aren't many that pair Elena and Damon together actually," a girl who had a back t-shirt suddenly spoke up. Stefan's eyes immediately went to her t-shirt as the picture on it was of a pair of black lips with long white canines on it. The canines were dripping with blood, you could see the disapproval flash in his eyes for brief second. "Most of them pair Damon and Bonnie together or Damon and someone else. There are some fictions that look at what happened after Dark Reunion- if instead of staying in Fells Church you and Elena went somewhere else and how she coped with growing old while you stayed young forever."

Stefan's eyes were a bright, burning green. He was upset and angry, I felt sorry for him but he must have known that it was going to be like this. "I see. I don't think I'd want to read those ones," he said quietly. There was an awkward silence as no one knew what to say before Sam piped up "you have to read some of the Damon ones though Stefan, they're hilarious. The ones where Damon falls in love with young girls who are still at school and then he creeps into their bedroom every night and pretends to be a teddy bear or something when their parents come up to check on their daughter."

There were choruses of "oh yeah- that one" and "that was sooo funny" around the circle, Stefan allowed himself a little grin at that one, glancing sidelong at Damon who seemed to find it amusing himself.

Just then Meredith came in with her group as it was time for the swap over, we were all getting up to go when Damon said at the top of his voice; "there is one author that I like brother- she calls herself Shadowkiss13. Perhaps if we can print out her work she might be kind enough to sign it for us." I went red and hurried out the door with Damon's laughter ringing in my ears.


End file.
